Journaling: What’s the Big Deal?

More and more big companies are hopping on the journaling bandwagon as a great form of self-care. But why now? 

Journaling has been around since the beginning of time, hasn’t it? Isn’t that essentially what all those caveman wall carvings were? 

While I don’t have an obvious answer to any of those questions, I can share my best hypothesis. 

Let’s call it what it is - a lot of shit has gone down in the past handful of years. World pandemic, wars, strong divides on any and all things religious, political, humane, environmental, moral… Insane technological advances. Obviously, the list goes on and on.

And maybe all of those don’t seem to have a thread in any way, but look closer. Everything that’s swirling around us today shares two elements. First, it’s all freaking INTENSE! And second, it’s all really isolating. 

We need relief.

Normalizing therapy has helped over the years. Same with normalizing meditating. Those are both hugely beneficial things in the self-care toolkit. 

But what happens when you only get to talk to your therapist once a week? Or when the budget for therapy runs dry? And what happens when you simply can’t sit still long enough to meditate because you have so much inside of your mind that needs a chance to come out? 

Enter: JOURNALING. 

We recently came back from Amsterdam, where we took a sobering tour of the Anne Frank house. In prep, my husband started re-reading her diary. Right out of the gate, Anne mentions how she’s going to start journaling because nobody really understands her. This journal will be her friend. 

In this day and age of intense isolation, we need a friend. A place to share all of our deepest darkest secrets. To emote without fear of being judged, harassed, or questioned. 

Enter: JOURNALING. 

And while meditation is amazing, as humans we can’t always just sit with it all. Our brains are racing a million miles a minute. Our sleep patterns, eating/drinking habits, and our overall physical wellbeing are suffering because of how much emotion we hold in. 

We need a safe space to emote. 

That’s what journaling is. A chance to sit still for a few minutes a day. A chance to purge all the thoughts that have been keeping you up night, and the emotions that can feel too big to say out loud. 

And this isn’t just me talking. Studies show that regular journaling can improve your mental, emotional, AND physical health. It’s also known to fire up your creativity and productivity. Just by sitting with a pen and notebook for a handful of minutes a day.  

I could go on and on. The bottom line is - you owe it to yourself to keep a journal. We all do. I think an amazing amount of self-healing can come from it, with essentially no monetary or calendar commitment required. The power that comes from simply putting pen to paper is astonishing. 

And I’m always available to help you get started! That’s the whole point of my website. I'm literally giving you daily or weekly journaling prompts to make it even easier for you. Sign up here to try my prompts for free!

Give journaling a try. Let me know what you think. I’m confident you’ll find a new sense of peace and clarity in your life.